Plans for $1.3b Bankstown Lidcombe hospital revealed

Four years after a massive cash injection was announced to build a new Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital, the location still remains undecided with the mayor blasting the state government for the delay.

The Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in southwest Sydney could see a brand new hospital built across the road. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Four years after the previous state government announced a $1.3bn cash injection for Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital, the location for the new state-of-art facilities remains undecided with the Canterbury-Bankstown mayor blasting the delay.

The new health facility was first revealed in 2019 by the previous Liberal government for the rapidly growing Bankstown area, which is expecting a 21 per cent population increase to become home to nearly half a million people by 2036.

The hospital is set to be built on a new site to provide space for a range of integrated health services, including expanded emergency services.

Mayor Bilal El-Hayek said despite it being more than four years after the funding announcement “not a sod of soil has turned (for a new hospital)”.

General scenes of Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Initially the old Bankstown Sport Complex site was considered for the site, however soon it came to light the ground was littered with asbestos due to its former life as a rubbish tip.

The hunt for the ideal location continued with former East Hills MP Wendy Lindsay announcing in February – before the recent state election – the hospital would be built next to the toxic site and across from the existing hospital.

However Mr El-Hayek came out swinging and revealed the announcement came as a surprise to council and “was quite bizarrely not shared by NSW Health or the Health Minister”.

In a mayoral minute published online before Tuesday’s council meeting, the mayor said he had information the NSW Government did not support the location announced by Ms Lindsay and had nominated the “Bankstown CBD” as the preferred location.

Mr El-Hayek called on Health Minister Ryan Park to clear up the ambiguity of the location of the hospital.

“What we have had instead are countless meetings, reports around site suitability and quite frankly a lot of hot air,” Mr El-Hayek writes. “The best you will get is: It is an exciting time for the local community with the planning underway for the new Bankstown Hospital.

“What planning are they referring to? And I can assure you there is no excitement as that fizzled with the lack of inaction.”

A Health Infrastructure spokeswoman said the NSW government was considering recommendations for the new Bankstown Hospital site and an announcement would be made in due course.

“The community will be kept informed once a site has been selected, and as the project progresses,” the spokeswoman said.